Sources: Various
Duolingo was founded in 2011 by Luis von Ahn and Severin Hacker. Luis is a 43-year-old Guatemalan immigrant and is the current Chief Executive Officer. Severin was a graduate student under Von Ahn and is the company’s Chief Technology Officer.
Duolingo has become the most popular way to learn a language. Their mission is to develop the best education in the world, and most importantly, make it universally available.
Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the City of Bridges, Duolingo aims to make learning a language a bridge to opportunity for millions around the world. They also have offices in New York, Beijing, and Berlin.
With technology at the core of everything it does, Duolingo has consistently invested to provide learners a fun, engaging, and effective learning experience while remaining committed to its mission to develop the best education in the world and make it universally available.
As one of the most downloaded education apps in the world, Duolingo has learners in nearly every country. By observing the data of millions of language learners, Duolingo is able to spot trends, like the movement of immigrants and refugees around the world. In 2018 the company produced a documentary, Something Like Home, about the impact of language learning on Syrian refugees.
This past June, Duolingo announced two new partnerships to help provide better access to education for refugees around the world. Duolingo will partner with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to provide free access to language learning and English testing. Duolingo will also be entering a new partnership with the United Nations’ High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) to create a new university counselor position at UNHCR focused on advising refugees through the university admissions and financial aid processes.
Duolingo recently joined Vice President Kamala Harris’s Call to Action for American businesses to commit to supporting the people of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.
The company, via its founder, announced Duolingo’s commitment to apply their expertise and resources to three key areas of education in the region: English language teaching, early childhood Spanish literacy, and English language assessment.
Via a letter (May 27, 2021) posted in the Duolingo website, Luis explained why this Call to Action partnership mattered to him, he stated, “I grew up in Guatemala City in the 1980s and 1990s, a particularly unsafe time in my country’s history. My mother spent everything she had on my education, which undoubtedly changed my life. I was extremely fortunate to go to a good school and eventually be able to come to the United States for higher education. But I am acutely aware that my outcome is extremely unusual for most people from Guatemala and our neighbors in the Northern Triangle, Honduras and El Salvador.”
TIME Magazine recently recognized Duolingo as one of their TIME100 MOST INFLUENTIAL COMPANIES for 2021!